


after the other shoe dropped

by ballerinaroy



Series: idol worship [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-11 14:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19539817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballerinaroy/pseuds/ballerinaroy
Summary: It was hard enough watching Harry get married. It's harder still for Hermione to see him in so much pain after Ginny leaves. It's a good thing that she and Ron are on the same page.Companion Piece to "i don't even like you"





	after the other shoe dropped

Even in discovering her past ten years were missing Ginny showed concern for Harry. Every time she visited and in her letters she asked Hermione how he was coping, showing more concern for him than her own son she didn’t even remember conceiving.

“You know Harry,” Hermione said without thinking. “He carries the whole fate of the world on his shoulders.”

But Ginny had nodded knowingly and answered. “He always has.”

Hermione looked down at the swell of her belly, the tiny wonder growing inside of her. Something that would be hers and Ron’s and would link them together forever. It didn’t feel fair to feel so much joy when the ones they loved were in so much pain. It brought back again the conversation that she’d been playing over and over in her mind. She couldn’t stop it spilling from her sleep-deprived lips.

“Just before your wedding there was a night where Harry and Ron had gone out with the Aurors and they came home, a little drunker than they wanted me to know, and Harry came and sat on my bed and looked at me and said,

_“I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? After everything, we’ve been through I just keep waiting for the next bad thing to happen. It doesn’t seem real that you two got married and I’m marrying Ginny and we’re just going to have a nice, neat little happily ever after.”_

“He was always waiting for something to happen. He feels guilty because, after all the things he’s been worrying about over these years, he missed this completely.”

Ginny looked horrified and Hermione wondered whether or not it was her place to share. After a moment Ginny was able to recover and whispered, “Poor Harry, he’s always right and no one ever believes him.”

Harry’d been put on leave the moment Ginny’s condition had come to light and even though he’d long since been cleared, they all had, he hadn’t returned to the office. He hadn’t shown any interest at all in resuming his life. He was like a zombie, waking in the morning and caring for James, cleaning the house and preparing dinner.

She was reminded horribly of how he’d acted after Cedric’s death, moping about the house and every day she waited for him to lash out but he never did. Instead, she was forced to watch him withdraw into himself and in many ways, it was so much more painful than the shouting and crossness had ever been.

More often than not in the evenings, he’d retire long before them and when Hermione would pass his room on the days where Molly or Angelina took James for a few hours he’d simply be lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling blankly. It was there she found him one Thursday evening and she pained in seeing him lying so stiffly and so alone.

Gently she rapped her knuckles against the doorframe. Harry lifted his head only inches and gave her the slightest nod. Taking it as his permission she joined him, laying down on top of the made bed and rested her head on his shoulder, lacing her fingers with his.

“When they locked me in the cupboard-“

Her heart clenched at his casual tone.

“I would spend a lot of time staring up at the stairs, thinking about how one day I’d grow up and have a family and we’d have no cupboards at all, we could just all sleep in one big room even the kitchen would be there and our sofa and that way we could always see each other and talk.”

“Harry,” she murmured, unable to help herself.

He gave her a pained look and she blinked back the tears.

“Where would you have kept all your clothes?”

They both looked up to find Ron had followed her in, he was leaning against the doorway with a lopsided grin that faded when Harry didn’t chuckle.

“I dunno,” Harry said sheepishly, cracking a smile.

Ron came and joined them, laying down on Harry’s other side and laced his fingers behind his head, his elbow dangerously close to hitting Harry in the face.

“Then I lived in a tent with you two and realized being constantly around people, even ones that you liked was too much.” Harry went on, a hitch in his voice.

They didn’t say anything and he didn’t seem to expect a response.

“I told her she could go, but I didn’t think she’d take me up on it,” Harry said when the silence seemed to stretch on. “I’ve been waiting all this time for the other shoe to drop and here it is and it doesn’t feel real.”

“Harry,” Ron murmured, tilting his head to look at Harry. “You couldn’t’ve-“

“How could I have done this to her?” Harry asked, looking between them. “I’ve stolen the past ten years, I’ve done things to her and she never-“

“You didn’t do this,” Ron said firmly. “It wasn’t your job to figure out that my own sister had been put under the Imperius curse. All you ever really knew of her was her under the curse. Someone else in our bloody family should have figured it out.”

“And it’s hard to,” Hermione cut in. “That’s what’s so dangerous about the Imperius Curse unless someone does something really drastic or out of character then it’s almost impossible to determine whether or not they were under it so long as the spell was cast well.”

“She did do something drastic,” Harry said, his voice full of despair. “She broke up with her boyfriend and fell in love with me!”

Hermione looked to Ron helplessly. 

“It’s not crazy for someone to fall in love with you, mate,” Ron said in a tender voice Hermione had never heard him use with Harry. It was a voice reserved for the bedroom when they were alone and affirming the love she knew he held for her.

The look of complete disbelief on Harry’s face broke her heart and Ron gently grasped his face to force Harry to look at him.

“It’s not impossible for someone to fall in love with you,” Ron repeated in a firm voice. “How could she not? I doubt there’s anyone who’s not a little in love with you.”

Harry was still blinking wet eyes but was holding onto every word as if it were precious.

“You’re brave and kind and gorgeous,” Hermione put in, feeling it was safe to name the things she’d always known about Harry, always been aware of but never felt the urge to act on.

“Not to mention the hero of the bloody wizarding world,” Ron finished for her and Harry looked between them as if frightened.

She knew of Ron’s confidence but she wasn’t sure that Harry did. But Harry didn’t make any move to pull away as Ron swooped down, first wiping away his tears before pressing his lips to the skin the pads of his fingers had cleared. Once, twice, three times his lips explored Harry’s skin and when he moved for the fourth time to comfort him, Harry’s face shifted and the lips of the two men Hermione loved most pressed together.

And it was everything she’d ever wanted and not enough all at once. Harry broke away, panting and stared at the both of them with wide eyes. Ron released him but Harry didn’t roll away and after a moment Ron propped himself up on one arm to look at them both and threw his other arm over Harry, hand landing on his hip.

Harry turned to her expectantly and she kissed him tenderly, lips never parting but sending a jolt through her all the same. It didn’t last long, neither of their kisses had, but it felt complete when they broke apart and Hermione settled back down against them, staring up at her husband whose face was tender yet anxious.

“You don’t have to do this because you feel sorry for me,” Harry said in a small voice and Ron snorted, the worry lines in his brow easing.

“We don’t feel sorry for you, mate,” and his causal tone brought sincerity.

It wasn’t as if they’d never talked about it. Hermione could remember acutely how painful it’d been to watch Harry walk down the aisle, arm in arm with the women he’d pledged himself to even if she herself already wore a ring on her finger and it’d been years since they’d lived together.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Harry murmured.

“You were with her,” Hermione answered, her voice just as low. “You were happy. All we’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy.”

His hand flexed and he reached down to take her hand in his again. Their fingers laced together and he brought them up, examining how they fit together.

“I’m not ready,” he said finally with a resigned sigh.

“That’s alright,” Hermione murmured relieved for their experiment not to end in rejection. “We’re not asking you for anything Harry.”

“And we’ll be here until you are,” Ron finished for her.

“And we’ll be here if you never are.” Hermione continued though she doubted her heart’s capability of losing him again, of entrusting his care with someone else.

Harry gave her a lazy smile and his eyes drifted closed. “I haven’t been sleeping.”

“We know,” they said together and the covers of his mouth twitched.

“Could you stay here, just until I fall asleep?”

Hermione nodded, settling back against him, feeling her husband’s hand drift over their best friend’s abdomen to her own where he put his hand protectively. Her heart clenched and could almost feel the baby stretching, trying to move closer to its father. She didn’t wish the pain upon Harry, would rather he have lived an entire life of happiness even if it wasn’t with them, but couldn’t help but feel content to have him so close again.


End file.
